ST. DAVIDS, Pa.– Eastern University Men's Soccer (1-0) needed a pair of late goals to earn a dramatic 2-1 home win over  the Eastern Mennonite University Royals. Zach Sievert scored in the 83rd minute and Evan Cope converted a penalty kick in the 86th to lift the Eagles to victory in the season-opener for both teams.

The Eagles found the late goals after building pressure throughout the second half. The Royals grabbed the lead on a broken play on a corner kick in the 52nd minute. The Royal goal came on their first shot of the match.

The Eastern response was good, and though much of their direct play did not yield results in the short run, they were able to build pressure and create chances while creating fatigue in the Royal back row.

Manny Park had a good chance turned away by a save and Osmand Chan had a shot drift wide, but as the game moved into the final ten minutes the visitors looked like they might have enough to hold on.

Sievert's game-tying effort came off a Royal goal kick. Chan won an aerial duel at midfield and Aidan Link floated a ball behind the Royal back row. The EMU center back headed the ball back to his goalkeeper to secure possession. Working to waste time, the Royal goalkeeper elected to take the ball off his body. Sievert anticipated the play and took advantage of a loose touch. He clipped a first time ball into the open net to tie the game.

The Royals had a chance to retake the lead with a free kick from wide of the box on the left. Ty Bleiler punched the first cross away but had to make a big scrambling effort to get a second cross. The sophomore goalie fought through a pair of EMU Attackers to gather the cross. His restart went well past midfield where Sievert again found his way to the ball.

Sievert flicked a ball over the Royal back row and in front of the goalkeeper. Cope won the race to the ball and flicked it over the onrushing keeper who was caught on the wrong foot and had to grab Cope to stop the goal. The official immediately called the penalty kick and went to his pants pocket for his red carder the denial of an obvious goal scoring chance. Cope converted the penalty for his tenth goal in his last seven games. The junior forward led the Eagles with 12 goals last year.

Even down a player, the Royals created several chances and forced Bleiler into a beautiful save on a. Headed shot in the 88th minute. Bleiler gathered in the final corner to make the game safe.

Though the Royals had plenty of first-half possession, the Eagles had nearly all the chances. The Eagles had a 9-0 edge in first-half shots and forced the EMU goalkeeper to make three saves. The best of those was a sprawling effort to turn away a shot from Chan in the 43rd minute.

Coming out of preseason, the Eagles needed to make several unexpected changes in the back row in response to cramping and minor injuries. Dylan Daignault went the full-90 at center back. Bleiler finished with just the one save, but was active in managing his box and very effective in distribution to earn the win.

The win is the first for first-year head coach Luca Mellor.

The Eagles are back in action at Rutgers-Camden tomorrow evening at 6 pm.